About That Last Post...And An Update

My last post was about Powerplay. I had actually written that post a long time ago, but shaky nerves prevented me from publishing it. It was not that I was scared about pissing off the wrong people, but that the post didn't read well. I edited and re-edited, and still I don't think it's as good as it could be, but I've wasted enough time. I'm never going to be Nabokov, so I may as well post what I got, right? Okay, enough about that. Let's move on.

So things at my job have changed since then. The jerk district manager is gone. Long gone! Yippee! I know I never got around telling about this guy, but he was a major tool--controlling, nagging, hostile, and condescending. There wasn't a week when he didn't come by the store to 'check up' on us and bully us around. It was like working under the Stasi. But those days are over. Ding-dong the witch is dead! Never mind how. Details of his departure are too sensitive to talk about, and involve people who I've come to like and whose characters I don't wish to besmear in the act of telling the story. What's important is that the jerk is gone, and I'm happy for it. What sucks, however, is that my store manager is gone too, at least for the time being. When she'll be back, no one knows. The old DM did a good job of crushing her spirit with his veiled threats and belittling and inappropriate remarks.

In the meantime we have a new store manager who is, to his core, a nice guy; his only problem is that he gets carried away with his job. You know those guys who just get promoted and go overboard with the micromanaging, trying to prove themselves to their bosses, while they only end up making more unnecessary work for the people below them? That's what this guy is like--a corporate shill, a flunky. He's busting his ass without the realizing that he's as disposable as the rest of us. He's a pulse, a heartbeat, someone to blame when things go wrong, someone to ignore when they go right. He's got no idea that all his effort is in vein, that it doesn't matter. To the higher-ups it's a numbers game, and there's only so much he can do to get the numbers on his side. If he fails, it won't matter how late he stays dusting off the shelves, how many asses he kisses, or how many times he arranges and rearranges and re-rearranges all the videos--if he fails, he's gone.

Still, I wish the guy the best of luck. He just needs to calm down. It's video rental, dude, not the Pentagon. Not everything is a crisis. Real change starts at the top. We shlubs at the bottom are just there to take the fall.